© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a roundtable discussing girls?s points, rights and empowerment at Sofitel Manila, Philippines, Nov. 21, 2022. Haiyun Jiang/Pool through REUTERS/File Picture
By Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned abortion rights are beneath assault throughout america in a speech Sunday marking the fiftieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court docket resolution that had established a proper to abortion till it was overturned final 12 months.
“The best of each girl in each state within the nation to make selections about her personal physique is on the road,” Harris mentioned. “Republicans in Congress at the moment are calling for an abortion ban in the mean time of conception nationwide. How dare they?”
Final week, White Home officers mentioned 60 anti-abortion payments have been filed within the 2023 legislative session and over 26 million girls at the moment dwell in states which have banned abortion.
“A majority of People oppose these assaults,” Harris mentioned, including voters in states together with Kansas, California, Michigan, Montana, Kentucky and Vermont affirmed abortion rights in poll proposals.
Talking in Tallahassee, Florida, Harris additionally made the case for federal laws to guard reproductive rights, which . Democrats didn’t move final 12 months once they managed each chambers of Congress. The proposal is unlikely to win help of Republicans who now maintain a slim majority within the Home of Representatives.
On Sunday, Biden launched a proclamation to guard entry to medicine abortion after some state officers took steps to attempt to stop girls from legally accessing medicine abortion.
The Meals and Drug Administration mentioned this month that abortion tablets would grow to be extra extensively obtainable at pharmacies and thru the mail. A authorized battle is underway at a federal court docket in Texas, the place abortion opponents have sued to undo the approval of the medication.
Harris’s resolution to talk in Florida was guided by the state’s resolution final 12 months to move an abortion ban with out exceptions for rape and incest, White Home officers mentioned.
The state’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is a possible 2024 presidential candidate.
Democrats, and a few Republicans, cite issues in regards to the lack of abortion rights for Republicans’ weaker-than-expected efficiency in final 12 months’s midterm elections. Biden’s get together sees abortion as a problem that may assist it within the 2024 elections, when management of the White Home and each chambers of Congress can be up for grabs.